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Employment Law

NLRB releases rules for recently enacted ‘ambush’ elections

04/14/2015
The National Labor Relations Board has released guidance on how its new, controversial “ambush” election rules will work, and the procedures are as bad as many employers feared.

Is early termination OK when employee who is on FMLA submits her resignation?

04/13/2015
Q. An employee who is off on an approved FMLA leave just submitted her resignation, providing two weeks’ notice. Our employee handbook asks employees to provide a two-week notice when possible. May we terminate the employee’s employment immediately rather than wait two weeks?

Can we restrict service dogs at work?

04/13/2015
Q. An employee with epilepsy wants to bring a dog to work to assist her in the event of a seizure. Our business is not conducive to having animals at work. Must we permit her to bring her dog?

The Minnesota Whistleblower Act: More time–and more protection–for whistle-blowers

04/13/2015
Recent changes to the Minnesota Whistleblower Act and the way in which Minnesota courts interpret it should put employers on watch. Late last year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals extended the statute of limitations for MWA claims from two to six years. The ruling comes on the heels of 2013 amendments to the MWA, which, plaintiffs argue, expand the scope of the statute’s coverage.

Hibbing School District caught between DHR and arbiter

04/13/2015
Hibbing High School postponed the arbiter-ordered return of a fired assistant principal after parents and the state Department of Human Rights weighed in. DHR had concluded the assistant principal had probably discriminated against female students during his tenure.

Women’s hockey coach’s firing leads to Title IX lawsuit

04/13/2015
Shannon Miller is one of the most successful coaches in NCAA women’s hockey history, but the University of Minnesota-Duluth concluded she and her all female coaching staff were a luxury it could no longer afford. Citing budgetary reasons, UM-D announced it would not renew their contracts.

Court spots the problem: Troubleshooting complex machinery isn’t exempt work

04/13/2015
With technological advances, just about every job involves using computers or computerized machinery. That doesn’t mean an employee whose job it is to repair such equipment is an exempt computer professional. Fixing things like printers and copiers—even the most technologically advanced ones—is hourly work, making the employee eligible for overtime.

Promoting employee: Yeah, that probably doesn’t count as retaliation

04/13/2015

It’s considered protected activity when employees complain about harassment based on ethnicity or other protected characteristics such as sex, race or religion. That means employers can’t retaliate against employees for having filed a harassment complaint. Now a court has clarified the obvious: Promoting an employee isn’t retaliation.

Routine medical care doesn’t trigger FMLA

04/13/2015
The FMLA is supposed to protect employees from losing their jobs when they can’t work due to a serious health condition. Minor maladies such as colds, headaches and body aches usually aren’t enough to merit protected leave. That’s true even if the employee goes to a doctor and gets a prescription, unless the health care provider also tells the worker to return within 30 days for a follow up or otherwise actively monitors the illness.

Use trial accommodation to test feasibility

04/13/2015

Do you worry that starting accommodations for a disabled employee may mean you have to continue them indefinitely? Relax. In fact, a trial accommodation may actually benefit employers in the long run. If the accommodation turns out to be disruptive, impractical or more costly than you thought it would be, you can stop it.